Secession unmasked, or, an appeal from the madness of disunion to the sobriety of the Constitution and common sense

SECESSION UNMASKED,

OR

A!N" APPEAL

FROM THE

MADNESS OF DISUNION

TO THE

SOBRIETY OF THE CONSTITUTION

AJKD

COMMON SENSE

By A. J. CLINE.

DEDICATED TO THE CITIZENS OF OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, AND ESPECIALLY TO THE
OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS IN THE UNITED STATES SERVICE.

WASHINGTON:
PRINTED EY HENRY POLKINFfORN

3*861.

A.3ST APPEAL.

Fellow citizens and soldiers :

A truly alarming and calamitous crisis has overtaken our beloved
country. The beautiful fabric of government erected in this western
world, once the admiration and hope of European nations, has been
treacherously assailed by our own citizens, and the disgraceful specta-
cle is presented to mankind of a people, formerly prosperous and
happy, standing, with scarcely any assignable cause, in open rebellion
against the constitution and laws they have solemnly sworn to rev-
erence and obey. The crisis is one over which thousands of noble and
patriotic hearts are shedding tears of bitter agony. Let us endeavor,
for a moment, to ascertain its foundation and history. The inquiry
may teach us a lesson of wisdom which will be useful to ourselves and
to our posterity.

We disclaim every act of rhetorical compliment when we say, that
the men who first framed our admirable system of government achieved
a measure of political wisdom, which did equal honor to their under-
standings and their hearts. An imperious step-dame had exercised
towards them every species of intolerant and coercive subjugation,
so as to compel them for a time to submit implicitly to a system of
governmental tyranny. But this hard policy produced a very diff-
erent effect on their minds, from what was anticipated. Instead of
reducing them to the condition of dependent vassals, it opened their
hearts to the love of absolute freedom. Instead of crushing the
spirit that was but humbly petitioning for the enjoyment of a just
measure of social happiness, it imparted strength and expansion to
resolutions that otherwise might have expired with the faint breath
by which they were first attempted to be kindled. In the midst of
their trials and difficulties, their increasing love of liberty became
greater and greater. The very extremity of their troubles only
served to sharpen their faculties, and to fit them for that glorious
experiment of a new and rational form of civil polity, which was to
gain the applause and approbation of the civilized world. Like the
mineral that is found in the depth of the earth, their lustre shone the
brighter the more it was exposed to the burning rays of an oppressive
and tropical sun.

At last they were plunged by the injudicious zeal of a false pa-
rental policy into the attitude of revolutionary insurgents, struggling
at the point of the bayonet for those just rights which were denied to
their humble petitions. The contest they sought to avoid on the first
occasion of complaint to their mother country, when fairly entered
into, they regarded as a contest of life and death for the natural and
inestimable rights of man. The anticipated result was equal to their
highest expectations, and a young and inexperienced people beheld
with admiration, at the end of the struggle, their arms completely tri-
umphant, and their rights and liberty permanently established.

Nor must we overlook the superior statesmanship of our civil rulers.
Never before, perhaps, in the history of the world, had a body of men,
under similar circumstances, manifested a greater degree of coolness
and circumspection — of calm, clear, dignified and patriotic deliberation.
They arrived at their conclusions from a conscientious consideration
of their own acts and intentions, as well as of the acts and intentions
of the mother country, and having taken this stand against unauthor-
ized usurpation, they piously committed the future issue to the God of
battles. No one who even superficially reads our glorious Declaration
of Independence, can help being struck by the force of its masterly
arguments, the tone of its open and simple sincerity, and its profound
but brief exposition of the rights and privileges of humanitv. It is
a state paper of universal obligation, adapted to no particular people
and no particular age, but appealing to the feelings and sympathies of
the people of all nations and of all times.

The Declaration of Independence proclaimed to the world the prac-
tical principles of a wise and efficient system of political justice. But
it required another instrument to establish these principles on the im-
movable basis of a corresponding system of government. This was a
task which our forefathers at first found it somewhat difficult to accom-
plish. Our Articles of Confederation partially failed in the ends they
had in view. It was found necessary to frame a more perfect Consti-
tution, and to define more clearly the rights to which individual States
and individual persons were entitled. Let us never forget one of the
prominent objects which this new Constitution especially aimed at
accomplishing. That object was, as expressed in the Constitution
itself, to form a more perfect union. It was soon discovered that the
old Articles of Confederation did not work well : that the States were
not cemented by ligaments that bound them together into one insepa-
rable compact; that the General Government had too little power, and
the individual States too much. The great object of the new Consti-
tution was to establish, within its prescribed limits, an independent
government, paramount and superior to all the rest, and to which all
the rest were to be subservient and subordinate. In other words, the
object of the Constitution was to give to the people of this young and
rising republic a government and a union that should be lasting and
inseparable ; that should exercise a superintending control over all the
others ; that should inherently possess the power of defending and
protecting itself against all foes, whether foreign or domestic; that
should be able promptly to punish rebellion, wherever found ; and
that should command the respect and approval of the nations of the

earth. This much might be fairly learned from its plain and literal
meaning. But much, too, was to be gleaned from its spirit and in-
tention.

That this great instrument of political legislation, like the Declara-
tion of Independence, was wisely framed by our leading statesmen,
and honestly approved by the whole country, no one at the present
day will have the hardihood to deny. That its objects were such as
are represented above, has not only been attested by our own expe-
rience for more than three-quarters of a century, but has been prac-
tically acknowledged by the whole civilized world. It must be con-
ceded at once that all nations, since the first foundation of our Union,
have treated with us on the single consideration of our exercising all the
powers of an efficient government, and that they never would have
treated with us on any other consideration whatever. Our political
relations with all countries involve the acknowledgement of this great
truth, or else we have been an exceptional rule to one of the most ob-
vious principles of the law of nations. A government is an independ-
ent sovereignty, existing as an entirety in its separate departments,
and exercising an absolute and undivided control within its proper
limits, over those who have given their consent to be governed. That
consent once granted, unless changed by the free and voluntary ap-
proval of a majority of its citizens, must remain firm and irrevocable
forever. It cannot be withdrawn by the whim or caprice of any indi-
vidual, or any number of individuals. The Government cannot be
destroyed by any course of proceeding disproportioned to the means
which first called it into existence. It cannot be divided against itself,
so long as its legitimate powers are not revoked by the authority
which originally granted them. When it is first formed, it constitutes
the people, who form it one nation. It cements together an alliance as
strong and durable, as firm and inseparable, as the atoms which com-
pose the solid structures of brass or marble. Nothing can reduce it
to its original elements but the free volition of those, and of all those
who created it.

The reason of this must be obvious to the plainest apprehension.
What would a government be worth that might at any time be over-
turned by the mere arbitrary wishes and desires of the restless and
disaffected? In what respect could a community of individuals be
regarded as a nation, if the unity and oneness of that nation could be
destroyed by the rebellious outbreak of some fragmentary part of it,
predicated on a pretext of mere fancied validity, or on no pretext at
all? What would the wise men who framed our Constitution have
said, if they had been told that the solid structure of government
which they had established to-day, might, by a whimsical change of
sentiment on the part of a single State, be destroyed to-morrow ? Was
it for such an ephemeral and imaginary government as this that our
forefathers exposed their lives, their liberties, and their fortunes, to the
aggressive attacks of a relentless and unforgiving enemy? When
they achieved their independence, and established that independence
on the basis of constitutional law and order, they either ranked them-
selves among the nations of the earth, or they did not. If they did not,
they could make no pretensions to national power or national greatness.

But if they did, then they proclaimed to the whole family of mankind
that they, like the people of other countries, had established a govern-
ment on a solid and durable foundation, which nothing but the consent
of the governed, or the despotic rule of the governors, could destroy.

But it may be said that "ours is a government of peculiar forma-
tion, resting on the express grants contained in a written Constitution,
and 'that its delegated persons may be revoked at any time by the par-
ties to the original compact. The union of these States was entered
into from considerations of mutual convenience and benefit, and its
several members reserved to themselves certain rights which guaranteed
to each of them a subordinate government, that might at any time be
withdrawn from the confederacy, and be exercised as an independent
sovereignty." This is the whole argument made use of by our South-
ern brethren, and the right of an individual State, or any number of
individual States to secede from the Union without assigning any other
cause than the mere exercice of voluntary choice, must depend on the
solidity and truth of the argument. Let us endeavor to test its cor-
rectness by the obvious principles of the Constitution, and the dictates
of reason and common sense.

We have already conceded the principle that all free governments
are established for the benefit of the people, and that the people alone,
that is, the whole people, possess the power of fundamentally altering
the forms of government thus instituted for their benefit. This im-
portant truth constitutes one of the first and most prominent axioms
of our Declaration of Independence. The language made use of by
the enlightened framers of that celebrated instrument, will be found to
read as follows : " That to secure the inalienable rights of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, governments 'are instituted amongst men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that
whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a
new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organ-
izing^its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness." This is a brief and comprehensive decla-
ration of the principle of political liberty— a principle which all may
understand, and to which every sensible mind will give its unhesitat

ing assent. . .

There are two leading considerations involved in this important
declaration. The first is, that any government may be abolished when
it becomes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted ; and the
second is, that the force or authority necessary to accomplish this great
purpose must proceed from the whole people for whose benefit the gov-
ernment ostensibly exists. It may be well enough to inquire how far
these two considerations will be formed to bear on the alleged right of
secession, which is now seeking to subvert the foundations of our gov-
ernment, and the glory and prosperity of our inestimable Union.

In what manner, fellow citizens and soldiers, has our government
become subversive of the ends for which it was originally instituted ?
What liberty has it destroyed ? What law has it violated ? What
privilege has it denied ? What power has it abused ? To what de-
partment of this government may we justly ascribe the least intention

of subverting our constitutional rights ? In what particulars has our
present, or any of our former executives attempted to interfere with
these rights ? Where is there a single instance of the national legis-
tature enacting a law in derogation of the life, liberty, or happiness of
the people ? In what respect has the judicial department of our gov-
ernment willingly transcended the limits of the wise, sober, and equit-
able administration of justice ? We ask in all sincerity that our
brethren of South would point to that clause or section of the Consti-
tution which has been directly or indirectly infringed or disregarded
by the rulers of this great country. Let us have a fair and honest
presentment of the offences laid to their charge. Show us the record..
We will not attempt to evade it by any technical subtilty that so often
disgraces political as well as judicial tribunals. We will hold the ac-
cused, in all respects, to the strict requirements of the law, and will
disdain to secure them from the alleged criminality contained in the
bill of indictment by any other means than a full and fair investigation;
of its merits.

It is utterly impossible that such a charge should be sustained, and
this is just as well known to the leading advocates of secession as it is
to ourselve. " But," say these misguided formenters of rebellion
amongst the people, " we do not complain of being exposed to any set-
tled or systematic scheme of govermental tyranny. We cannot point
to the passing of any law, or the perpetuation of any act, the object of
which has been to deprive us of our just rights under the laws and
Constitution of our county. Our disaffection to the government under
which we have so long lived and prospered, is based on a feeling of
disrespect, cherished by a portion of our fellow-citizens, for our pecu-
liar institutions, and on the fraud regard we ourselves entertain for
our sectional interests as distinct members of the great American fam-
ily. The spirit of Northern Abolitionism is muttering in fearful tones
its fanatical objurgations against us. A president has been elected
whose principles are hostile to our domestic habits and manners. A
congress has been elected whose legislation may interfere materially
with the cherished schemes and established trade of our people. An
increasing degree of Northern prejudice is arrayed against us. We
are contemptuously spoken of by men who neither respect nor under-
stand us. Our motives are misconstrued, and our characters are slan-
dered. Exposed to injuries like these, our only alternative is to dis-
solve the ties which bind us together as a united people."

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that scarcely one of these alleged
causes of complaint is founded in truth. There is no truth in the as-
sertion that the feelings of the President are hostile to the feelings
and institutions of the South. Neither have we just warrant for saying
that the general sentiments of the Northern people are inimical to the
rights and interests of their Southern neighbors. Such sentiments do
indeed pervade the minds of a few fanatical leaders. It is but fair to
acknowledge too that these leaders have been industriously employed
in seeking to make converts to their own opinions, and in some in-
stances their exertions have not been without success. But that suc-
cess has been but partial and limited, and perhaps not one mind in
fifty has been corrupted by the taint of their fanatical doctrines. The

overwhelming odds largely sympathizes with the feelings of our of-
fended brethren in the South.

But let us suppose for a moment that the complaints uttered by our
Southern fellow-citizens are true — that the President is really opposed
in sentiment and feeling not only to the further extension of slavery,
but to the very existence of that institution — that thousands of mis-
guided people in the North are cherishing the same fanatical feelings —
have been railed and slandered, and that the boldness and impudence
of the Northern Abolitionists are well calculated to provoke the slave-
holder to the very highest degree of exasperation. How will this
serve to impart a different complexion to the erroneous principle of
secession ? Rebellion, at any time, and under any circumstances, ought
to be a reluctant and an exceedingly cautions movement. " Prudence
will dictate," says our Declaration of Independence ; "that govern-
ments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes ; and accordingly all experience has shown that mankind are
more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right them-
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." The
truth of this sentiment must come home to the feelings of every sensi-
ble and reflecting mind. But what is the case in regard to the men
who have rashly seceded from our glorious Union, and have sought to
overturn what the wisest statesmen everywhere have esteemed the best
government in the world ? Had they any but a light and transient
cause for their hasty and precipitate movement ? Nay, had they any
cause at all ? Look at this terrible movement in the full exercise of
that candor and concern which its great importance demands. Sup-
posing the President, as we have said, professed and cherished the
principles that we believe are falsely attributed to him. Supposing a
large minority of the people of the North entertained the same prin-
ciples. Would that be a sufficient cause for rebellion ? Has there
been any open aggressive act of unconstitutional authority exercised
by either ? Ought the government of the United States be made re-
sponsible for the private opinions of her chief magistrate, or for the
private opinions of any number of her citizens? Where has been the
open, persistent, and determined oppression that j ustified this rebellion ?
Was it ever heard of before that tyranm- and oppression may be de-
nounced by anticipation, and that treason may be founded on the con-
jectural hypothesis of what a government may become instead of the
certain evidence of what it is already ? Such a doctrine, if true, would
effectually destroy every government under heaven. There would be
no longer anv security left for the repose and happiness of society.
All the elements of anarchy and discord would be let loose on a suf-
fering and disordered world.

But again, we all know that the Constitution under which we live
was established by the people, and we have intimated above that the
people alone are competent to the task of altering or abolishing it.
The right to do this is an essential feature of every form of republican
government, and this right must be exercised in a way corresponding
to the means by which the government was originally established.
Has it been done so in the wild attempt recently made to destroy the
integrity and symmetry of our glorious Union ? Were the people of

9

these United States, who framed and ratified our compact of govern-
ment consulted on the great measure of reducing it to its primary
elements ? Let us, for the sake of the argument, yield an unqualified
admission to what we must otherwise flatly deny, that a sufficient cause
existed in the country for abrogating our fundamental law, and sever-
ing the ties which bound us together as one people. Was it competent
for such a revolution to be brought about by a single individual, or a
single State ? Had South Carolina the right to constitute herself the
sole umpire in deciding on a measure of such vast and overwhelming-
magnitude ? Is it reasonable to say that her own self-willed presump-
tion in seceding from the Union, constituted a legal warrant for all the
other States to follow in her footsteps ? The acknowledgment of such
a doctrine would leave us without law, without authority, and without
a government. It would reduce us to a pitiful association of petty
independent sovereignties, where there would be no order, because
there would be no controlling influence, — where there would be no
strength, because there would be no union.

The great mistake undoubtedly, consists in according to each
individual State, what belongs to the aggregate capacity of the entire
people alone. It is assumed as an inferential maxim in our govern-
ment, that, because certain rights were Constitutionally reserved to
each separate State, and that because each separate State came into the
Federal Union agreeably to its own consent, formally expressed in a
written covenant, that therefore it may at any time resume its standing
as an independent sovereignty, and peacefully withdraw its consent
from the political compact into which it had so solemnly entered. But
such an assumption we cannot help regarding as a rank political heresy.
All governments are in the very nature of things, founded originally
on the consent of the people. Nor does it make any difference whether
this consent is expressed or implied — whether it was gradually yielded
by the tacit agreement of its members, or was at once openly avowed
by the more formal language of a written Constitution, — whether the
parties to the same were only single and individual persons, or whether
they were separate societies, having in a variety of particulars separate
and distinct interests. The only question to be asked is, was the con-
sent of the people originally given and obtained ? When once that is
done the government is forever established, and whether it consists of
separate individuals or separate societies, — whether it has been created
by an implied or a written Constitution, — it cannot be sundered or
destroyed except by the free determination of the parties who formed
it. Take the United Kingdom of Great Britain for instance. It con-
sists of three distinct States or Territories, incorporated into a union
by consent of the contracting parties, although this consent was not
fully given until Scotland and Ireland had been subjugated by the
overpowering conquests of the English nation. Supposing that Ireland
should express a determination to secede from the other two, and should
take up arms with the view to accomplish this purpose, and to form a
separate government of her own. Would this be tolerated by the other
parties to the compact ? Would not the whole world pronounce such
a movement rebellious and unconstitutional, although force was used
in the first place to obtain an unwilling consent to the terms of the

10

contract ? When a government has long existed by consent of the
governed, no matter how it originated, is it not bound to see that every
part of the National domain shall remain true to its loyalty and alle-
giance, and shall be subject to the superintending restraint, as well as to
the superintending protection of the national authority ? If this be the
case when the consent of the governed has been reluctantly granted,
with how much more force will the principle apply when that consent
has been fully and voluntarily given from the commencement? In
both cases the rule is enforced with a view to the peace and repose of
society.

We have thus shown that not only was there no just cause for the
extraordinary movements of our Southern brethren, but even if there
had been, these movements were not brought about by the declared
will of the whole people, the only authority which could legally and
peacefully sanction them. Circumstances may happen indeed, in the
history and experience of all governments, which will fully justify the
most decided acts of rebellion, even when committed by only a frac-
tional part of an oppressed and down-trodden people. But can it be
said with the least shadow of propriety that this remark is applicable
to the case in question ? We might ask here, as we have done before,
for the evidence of any systematic or wanton oppression — of any
unjust or tyrannical misrule, — either on the part of the regular govern-
ment, or any of its subordinate divisions belonging to the people. We
are not sure that even the Fugitive Slave Law was ever attempted to
be illegally evaded, or unconstitutionally abrogated. There may have
been a few instances of this kind by single States, or single individuals.
But who does not know that such attempts, even when seriously
threatened and intended, must always fall short of the mischief aimed
at by their perpetrators ? With this fanatical incendiarism, however,
if it existed at all, the general government had nothing to do. Nor
was it ever supposed by any deliberate and reflecting mind that it could
in a single instance materially impair the obligation of the laws, or
weaken the purposes of justice. Every one knows that the moment an
appeal could be made to the proper tribunal, the paramount majesty
and force of the Constitution and laws would be vindicated, and a severe
rebuke would be administered to the inconsiderate foil y which attempted
to disturb the repose of society. Every judicial decision asked for. had
been rendered in favor of law and justice, and the popular voice in the
North, in many instances, clamored loudly in defence of Southern rights,
and the propriety of Southern conciliation, even in cases where our
very sensitive brethren were sometimes asking for considerably more
than an exact award of merit would have justly entitled them to.

It was not oppression, therefore, either on the part of the government
or the people, of which the South had any just right to complain.
Nor indeed did they ever attempt to make it appear that there was any
direct or immediate interference by the government, or any persons
connected with the government, in any institution, jurisdiction, or
privilege, whicn they might claim as being peculiarly identified with
their own section of country. The most they dared to say, was, that
these rights had been threatened, and that if they were not in reality
violated now, there was some danger that they might be violated here-

11

after. On this remote and uncertain contingency they persisted in
founding all their complaints, until at last they succeeded in persuading
themselves that they not only had a sufficient cause for discontent, but
in reality had a proper excuse for a precipitate, wanton, and terrible
rebellion. This brings us to the far most important part of the subject
we have been discussing. We have readily seen the flimsy pretexts
urged by ambitious men for overturning our government, and rending
our happy Union asunder. But to be able to understand the notions
for urging these pretexts is a task attended with much more difficulty — at
least it is something much more important — for us to know, on the
knowledge of which indeed the writer of these pages believes our
political happiness essentially to depend. Let us, therefore, examine
these motives with the attention which their great importance would
seem to demand. On Avhat principle has it happened that our South-
ern brethren have been so far blinded as to attempt to justify a rebellion
that is founded on causes absolutely and wholly insufficient ? By what
powerful stimulus has their minds been so far corrupted, and their
imaginations perverted, as to make them reconcile to their own con-
sciences such a stupendous outbreak of folly, disorder, and wickedness ?

The ruling principle of every unregenerate mind is, m a greater or
less degree, a principle of selfishness. The evils of our nature are so
radically perverse, that they often exist to a most alarming extent, even
where their presence is least felt or suspected. They are so sly and
stealthy in their approaches, that we are seldom in a situation to dis-
cover the ambush until we are effectually surrounded and taken pris-
oners by the enemy. As it is with individuals, so it is with communi-
ties and nations. The minds of our people have been gradually infected
by this principle of selfishness, until our country has been over-run
and almost ruined oy it. This selfishness in the political world assumes
the cunning and malignity of what is called party spirit. It is party
spirit then which has been the fruitful source of all the evils under
which we are now suffering, and it is against this formidable enemy of
your political peace and happiness that the writer of this address would
most affectionately warn you.

The first patriots of a country are perhaps always the sincerest and
most exalted, as the first Christians werejjcertainly the purest and most
holy. Washington entered on the administration of the affairs of our
government, to which he had been called by unanimous vote of the
people, with little or no apprehension of any immediate danger arising
from party strife or social discord. He had for his assistants men of
ried virtue and superior dignity. He had for his constituents the
members of a recent and experimental organization, whose souls had
been purified by the severe agitation of political tempests, and whose
intellects had been sharpened by incessant contact with foreign enemies
abroad, and with domestic enemies at home. The danger to be appre-
hended previous to that time, was not so much a danger springing from
jealousy and discontent, — from cupidity and selfishness, — as a danger
arising from the uncertain principles of an unsettled government. The
moment these principles were agreed upon, and the government became
permanently settled, that moment the danger was at an end, and the

12

people willingly and gladly shared with each other the blessings of
mutual security and repose.

But Washington was a man whose insight into the secret workings
of the human heart, formed a prominent part of his acquired knowl-
edge, and the last pious effort of his patriotic life, was to wars, his
countrymen against the insidious aspirations and designs of party spirit.
He seemed to be intuitively informed of the great danger arising from
this source, more than from any other, and all his cherished love of
country was drawn to a contemplation of this terrible evil. He saw
it would be that, if any thing, which one day or other would destroy
our political union, and render us powerless .and impracticable as a
nation. Hence he exhorted us to watch for the preservation of our
union with jealous anxiety, and to discountenance whatever might
suggest even a suspicion that it could in any event be abandoned.

For a time the advice of Washington was followed with filial rever-
ence and regard, and every department of our country was correspond -
ently prosperous and happy. But this favorable state of things was
not destined long to continue. As the nation advanced in greatness
and glory, designing politicians began to watch every opportunity of
gratifying their selfish ambition, at the expense of much that was
honorable and virtuous in the government. At first the ambitious
aspirants were but few, and were not yet willing to make an entire
surrender of their honor and dignity to the demon of cupidity and
selfishness. Such was the temper and feeling of our public men during
the administration of Mr. Jefferson. But gradually they grew more
and more numerous, and as they increased in numbers they suffered
themselves to grow more shamefully conspicuous in meanness, in cun-
ning, and in profligacy. Parties were formed with the secret design
of superseding and supplanting each other. Organizations were sys-
tematically got up for the purpose of achieving some concealed purpose
of interest or ambition. At last these corrupt aspirants grew stronger
and bolder. They insidiously infused their impure poison into the
minds of the people, and having indoctrinated the masses with their own
foul spirit of fraud1 and dishonesty, they openly declared that power
and place in the government were acquisitions to be gambled and
played for, — that "to the victors belong the spoils," — and that however
mean and degraded a man might become, — however far he might sink
below the level of ordinary respectability in a calling or profession, —
he was still good enough to be made a politician, and might successfully
aspire to fill one of the highest places in the government.

Of course the Government was not left without the assistance and
support of a few noble spirits, who had not bowed their knees to the
demon of faction; who had not become the mercenary slaves of
party organization and party dictation. It would have been the death
blow of our political hopes, the winding sheet to the lifeless corpse of
our murdered republic, if such a class of patriots had been wanting.
There were men who stood, if not out of, at least far above the party
corruption and party chaos by which they were surrounded. I trust
in God, we may rightfully boast of such men yet. But they have
been — I speak it to our everlasting dishonor — growing fewer and
feebler ever since. ' Party tactics have assumed a bold, reckless, and

IS

studied scheme of systematic misrule and importance in the nation,
and every department of our Government has felt the paralyzing
effects of an influence so corrupt and unholy. The spirit of party is
the vital breath in which demagogues have a spasmodic existence, cor-
rupting and disordering all things by the unprincipled and frantic vio-
lence which usually marks their course. Their leading motto, although
in a somewhat different sense from that which governs wiser and better
men, is " divide and conquer." If parties do not exist ready made to
their hands, they call into requisition every means within their power
to give permanency and effect to those of their own making. If legit-
imate causes of separation and division are wanting, they proceed
forthwith to manufacture them out of their own brains, and for their
own purposes, and to this end they labor with all their might to con-
vince the people that their very existence as a nation depends on a
single measure of doubtful policy, or a single principle of vague and
indistinct importance. Once the grand problem of separation and dis-
pute was for or against a protective tariff. On another occasion the
odious watchword was for or against a United States Bank. An infi-
nite variety of other standards have successively been erected, from
which each of the antagonistic parties, professing all the while to be
exceedingly friendly to the interests of the dear people, promulgates its
shibboleths of hostile proscription or friendly affiliation. The present
fruitful apple of discord is slavery, a subject which has been gradually
looming larger and larger to the public view, just in proportion as it
has been belabored and tortured by partizan leaders, until in all its
leading ramifications it is made to assume an appearance of wide and
perplexing difficulty, while its -real dimensions may be taken in with
ease by the simplest and plainest understanding.

We have said that a favorite motto of these partisan leaders is.
"divide and conquer." God defend us against a principle which, as
understood by these men, is fraught with destruction and death to the
vital existence of our republican institutions. The principle of seces-
sion is the operation oi u. doctrine in a new and most dangerous
form, involving in its ter, -■>. : consequences all the evils of anarchy,
malignity, and disorder, 'a ais unhappy state of things cannot be
justly charged to the deliberate choice of the people at large. But
for the political sophistry and promptings of their partisan leaders,
the people would have remained faithful to their oaths of allegiance,
faithful to the Union, and faithful to themselves. They would have
freely shed their life's blood in opposing the first profane step that
would have dared to trample on the American flag and the American
Constitution. But their leaders were men of different tempers and of
different characters. They had long been inured to the disgraceful
machinations and dissensions of political warfare. They had long
aspired to a selfish superiority in a country of democratic plainness
and republican equality. They had long viewed the growing pros-
perity of their northern fellow citizens with distrust and jealousy.
They had long wished for some plausible pretext to render the breach
between contending factions wider and wider, so that they might at
last assume the powers and prerogatives of an independent community,
and revel in the spoils not only of a sundered and vanquished party.

14

but of a dissevered and distracted country. At length the crisis came.
" Divide and conquer " was again the unprincipled watchword by
which these political demagogues sought to accomplish their selfish
purpose. But this time their unscrupulous injunction had a more ter-
rible meaning. It aimed at the disintegration of our vast republic.
It urged the dismemberment and destruction of our young but pow-
erful Government. It openly advocated the dissolution of our happy
Union.

And now, alas ! our glorious Union has indeed been shaken to its
foundations. The same spirit that at first only divided parties and
factions, has most cruelly divided our beloved country. Patriotism
weeps over the broken fragments of a mutilated and despised Consti-
tution. Loyalty weeps over the sad spectacle of a disaffected and
alienated people. The whole world is alarmed at the threatened
downfall of republican liberty and intelligence in this western hemis-
phere. But let us not timidly yield to the weak suggestions of dis-
couragement and despair. The proud fabric of our Government has
been basely attacked, but it has not been irreparably injured. There
are thousands and millions of patriotic hearts beating high in the
cause of constitutional rights and constitutional supremacy. There
are thousands and millions of brave men busy in gathering up the
dispersed fragments of the temple of liberty, which, when brought
together will form a structure more beautiful and more solid than ever.
You, fellow citizens and soldiers, have the high honor of being engaged
in this blessed work. On you devolves the double task of first re-
storing the proud edifice of political light and knowledge, which dis-
loyal traitors have sought to overthrow, and afterwards of defending
it from future attacks proceeding from the same cause. Ycu are
battling nobly for the flag under which our fathers fought and achieved
their independence. You are fighting nobly for the laws and Consti-
tution of your country. But you have another duty to perform,
which in its consequences is not less mumentous and important.
When peace shall be restored to our bleeding country — when you
shall have re-established the boundaries and blessings of the Union —
forget not the obvious causes which so disgracefully led to its dissolu-
tion. Resolve at once to discard from amongst yourselves all party
spirit. Determine to acknowledge no longer any difference between
the words republican and democrat. Regard that man as your politi-
cal enemy who would continue to urge these distinctions. Remember
that their inevitable tendency is, not only to alienate the affections of
friends and brothers from each other — not only to corrupt and demor-
alize the human heart — but, as you have fearfully experienced, to
overturn the best of governments, and to encourage bad and ambitious
men to found their anticipated greatness on the ruins of their country.
Let us fondly exclaim with Mr. Jefferson, "we are all republicans — we
are all democrats!" In seeking to redress the wrongs your country
has suffered, you have forgotten for a time your party separations, and
of course you fight all the better for having forgotten them. So when
you return to the pursuits of civil life would you prosper the better
for the same reason. Let me urge you, by every noble feeling and
affection you cherish for your beloved country, not only to forget your
party hostilities for a time, but to forget them forever.

15

I know it is sometimes said that parties are a wholesome check on
each other, and are necessary to the health and vigor of a republican
form of government. But this is one of those plausible arguments in-
vented by cunning men in order to practice with the greater degree of
impunity their shameful acts of duplicity and wickedness. Two par-
ties can only serve the pernicious purpose of inflaming and corrupt-
ing each other. They are no more conducive to the general welfare
of the body politic than war and pestilence, when brought together,
are conducive to the general repose and health of society. They are
no more salutary as counteracting agents in the conflict of moral good
and evil, than hunger and contagion are salutary as neutralizing prop-
erties in the conflict between health and disease. They are found, on
the contrary, mutually to aggravate and increase each other's destruc-
tion and violence. This we learn from every day's experience. Just
in proportion as party spirit runs high, venality, corruption and dis-
order infect every department of our political organization.

But you have still further services to perform, in order to promote
the lasting welfare and happiness of your suffering country. The
moment that peace is restored, there will be occasion for a judicious
amendment, in one or two particulars, of our matchless Constitution.
This ought to be done readily and promptly, and with a marked de-
gree of wise and prudent circumspection. It may be necessary to
define, with greater precision than has heretofore been done, the
respective pretensions to certain exclusive peculiarities belonging both
to the North and the South. Amongst these, the most prominent and
important, of course, will be the institution of slavery, an institution
guaranteed to our southern brethren by a solemn provision of the
Constitution, and which it was never intended should be interfered
with by any hostile authority exercised by the general or any of the
State governments. We do not mean to say that that influence has in
any substantial manner been already exercised. But our southern
tellow citizens have complained, and perhaps have not complained
without cause, of our language and sentiments so freely and so gratu-
itously expressed on this subject — of our eager and officious inter-
meddling in that which did not politically concern us, and which was
seriously calculated to provoke their anger and resentment. > Ought
we not to pause for a -moment, and think whether there is not some
reason to question the wisdom and propriety of our own conduct?
They rebelled, it is true, without cause. But is not a reasonable
allowance to be made on account of the alleged provocation — on ac-
count of that disorder of the imagination which our own imprudence
had some agency in exciting? Such inquiries should regulate our
temper and feelings, if not towards their leaders, at least towards the
great mass of those who have been so dreadfully imposed on by these
leaders. They arc politically brethren with us, under the protection
and government of the same great republic, and the moment they re-
turn to their duty, our first object ought to proclaim aloud our ardent
desire to secure them in the full enjoyment of their political rights,
and to establish these on the firm basis of a constitutional guarantee.

Another subject of immense interest to the political and civil wel-
fare of our country, is connected with the extravagant expenditure of

16

our rublie revenue, and the corruption which there is too much reason
to fear has been gradually tainting, more and more, the minds of our
public men. Much of this corruption may be fairly attributable to the
prevalence of that party spirit which we have taken occasion to
reprehend above, and which has been so fearfully undermining the
purity and stability of our political institutions. Where politics is
made a trade, all the arts of an illicit trafic will be naturally resorted
to for the purpose of benefiting the individual engaged in the disgrace
ful calling. How far these abuses are susceptible of amendment by
Constitutional enactment, may become matters of serious inquiry to
those who shall be entrusted with the task of reforming them. Some
of them might certainly be reached in this manner. One of the very
worst, — one that has done more than any other, as we verily believe,
to distract our public councils, and waste our public treasure, — one
which is anti- democratic and anti -republican in every aspect in which
it can be viewed, is that feature in the administration of our govern-
ment which gives to our representatives in Congress the right of fixing
a proper allowance for their own services, and constituting themselves
the sole umpires of the amount of compensation to which they are
entitled. Every public servant, as any other laborer in the common
affairs of life, is undoubtebly worthy of his hire. But no one can fail
to see at a glance, that where men have the right to regulate the time
during which their public services are to continue, as well as the
amount of their compensation for these services, no matter how digni-
fied these men may be supposed to be in their characters and standing
before the public, they will be strongly tempted to betray the trust
which has been so liberally confided to them. This is made evident
to us every day by the abuse of the franking privilege. And precisely
the same fact may be inferred from the long, protracted, and tedious
duration to which', formerly, the sessions of Congress every other year
were extended. May we not reasonably believe, that with a fair com-
pensation for the needed services of our representatives at Washington,
secured to them by some competent and independent organ of the
government, our public business would be better done, and, what would
be of almost equal benefit to the country, would be done in a much
shorter time ? It will be admitted by the great majority of the intelli-
gent citizens of our country, that if we had less talking on our floors
of Congress, we should most certainly be placed under the enjoyment
of better laws.

Our Constitution undoubtedly meant, as I have endeavored to show
above, to guarantee to all the States the equal benefits of a perpetual
Union. But as some of our Southern friends affect to question this
position, an explanatory clause should be incorporated in the original
instrument which would leave no one the slightest pretence for advo-
cating a different doctrine. The perpetuity of the Union should be
declared to be. what it really is, the corner stone on which our govern-
ment rests, and the essential life of our political existence, which none
should be suffered to touch or violate with profane hands. It was the
very first blessing which our fathers attempted to secure to us after
they had established their independence. It is the very last that should
be surrendered by their children.

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